Self-closing gas-burner



(No Model.)

W. W. SHERMAN. SELP'GLOSING GAS BURNER.

No. 440,443. Patented Nov. 11, 1890.

' WITNESSES W/Qyd,

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\VILLIAM 1V. SHERMAN, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

SELF-CLOSING GAS-BURN ER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 440,443, dated November 11, 1890.

Application filed March 27, 1890.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WILLIAM W. SHERMAN, of the city and county of San Francisco, and State of California, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Self Closing Gas- Burners, of which the following is afull, clear, and exact description.

This invention, like that for which Letters Patent No. 342,139 were issued to me May 18, 1886, has more particularly for its object the prevention of accident and loss of life from asphyxia, as caused by the inflamed gas being accidentally extinguished or blown out at the burner; and it relates to that class of devices for the purpose in which a spring subject to control by the flame operates when the flame is so extinguished to cause the key or cock of the burner to be closed.

The invention consists of a special arrangement and construction of a thermostatic spring as applied to a gas-burner to hold the cock open when it is hot or the gas is burning, and to liberate said cock so as to make the latter self-closing when such spring becomes cool, and it comprises an independent spring for holding the cock open when the fixture is cold-as, for instance, when the gas is turned onalso, a weighted lever for automatically closing the cock, provided with an extension subject to the action first of the secondary or plain spring and then of the thermostatic spring until the gas is extinguished, substantially as hereinafter more particularly setforth.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 represents a View in elevation of an automatic or selfclosing gas-burner embodying my invention; Fig. 2 an elevation of the same in a plane at right angles to Fig. 1 and with the working parts in the same position as represented by fulllines in said Fig. 1 Fig. 3, an elevation similar to Fig. 2, but with the working parts or certain of them in a different position; and Fig. 4 a view in perspective of the thermostatic spring detached.

A indicates a gas-burner of the ordinary or any;{ suitable construction, and B its key or coc C is the compensating or thermostatic spring (No model.)

bent to extend on opposite sides of the burner and to pass up over orin proximity to the top of the burner around or outside of the burner-tip b, and having its one lower end 0 secured to the burner and its opposite lower end left free or loose and extending down to or nearly in line with the cock of the burner, where it is formed with a swell or lip 61. The different metals of which this spring is composed may be brass and steel, or other suitable metals that will give to it the necessary thermostatic action. Thus it may be composed of an outer brass spring 6 and inner steel spring f, soldered or otherwise united together, the inner spring f extending only under the upper part or how of the outer spring e and partly down its sides, leaving a straight lower leg-like portion g of the outer spring 6 non-compensating-that is, without any inner spring-so that when the compound spring C is exposed to the heat of the burning gas the leg 9 will be contracted or drawn inward toward the opposite side of the whole spring, and when the said compound spring is relieved of the heat it will be expanded or opened and its leg 9 thrown outward away from the center of the burner. Thus the thermostatic spring when expanding or contracting has rather a lateral action than a move ment in direction of its length.

Attached to the outer shell of the gas-burner-as, for instance, by a bracket h-inside of the leg 9 of the thermostatic spring C and adjacent to it, is an ordinary or any suitable spring D, bent or formed with a lip at its lower or free end, which, in the working of said spring, closes inward, and which extends slightly below the leg 9 of the thermostatic spring C.

H is the weighted lever attached to the key or cook B for automatically closing the latter. Said lever is provided with a rear extension 1', on the opposite side of the cock to which the weight of the lever is arranged, which extension, that may either be of the same or a different piece with the lever, is arranged under the free end of both springs D and C or leg 9 of the latter.

The cock B is supposed to open by bringing the weighted lever H into an approximately horizontal position, first, as shown by full lines in Figs. 1 and 2, when the lever-extension 7; will bear up against the lower free end of the spring D. This is the position of the parts when the gas-burner is coldas, for instance, when turning the gas on and before lighting it. Under this condition the lower free leg 9 of the thermostatic spring 0 is expanded laterally outward, as shown in Fig. 2, and hasno action. As, however, after lighting the gas, the cock or gas-burner generally becomes heated, the leg 9 of the thermostatic spring moves laterally inward, as shown in Fig. 3, and acting upon the springD closes it inward out of the range of the extension t of the weighted lever H, the weight of which then partly drops to the, horizontal position shown by dotted lines in Fig. 1. lhis will cause the lever-extension i to bear under the lower end of the leg g of the thermostatic spring as a second orsucceeding stop to hold the cock open while the gas-burner is hot. If, however, the flame should he accidentally extinguished, or be blown out, for instance, then on the parts of the gas-fixture, including the thermostatic spring 0, becoming cool, the leg g of said spring will be forced laterally outward again, thus allowing the lever-extension t to clear said leg, when the Weighted lever H will drop to a still lower or vertical position, as shown also by dotted lines in Fig. 1, and in so doing it will close the cock and shut off the gas.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The combination, with the burner A, cock l3, and weighted lever H, having an, extension t' on the opposite side of the cock, of the independent stop-spring D, and the laterally expanding and contracting thermostatic spring G, arranged to control the former spring, substantially as and for the purposes specified.

WVILLIAM W. SHERMAN.

Witnesses:

O. A. SHA'rTUoK, L. CARRAN. 

